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New 1000 AD..A free strategy game

The New 1000AD Game: A Beginner’s Experience

The New 1000AD game is a free online strategy game that aims to challenge players in a number of different skills, testing their planning and tactical abilities against those of other players. The historical time frame is, as the name suggests, the year AD 1000.

There are two variations of the game you can play. The first gives you all the time you need to build, plan, strategize and form alliances. In this variation your turn comes around every nine minutes. The second one, called ‘Blitz’, is very time constrained. In other words, it tests your abilities to make quick tactical decisions. Your turn comes around every three minutes.

As a beginner, your first step is to familiarize yourself with the menu at the top of the page. The next step is to go to the game basics and get a good overview of what the game is, its objectives, and how it is played. For your first game it makes sense to start with the slower variation, while you accustom yourself to planning and playing.

You have a choice of building up a civilization of Vikings, Byzantines, Chinese, Japanese, Zulu, Barbarians, Incas, Franks, Turks or Mongols. You need to find out the advantages and disadvantages associated with each civilization, before you decide.

Then, what may be a good idea, is to print out the ‘tips’ that are given, and keep them handy while you play.

As with many of the most popular strategy games, building up an economy and an empire is the foundation of the game. Warring, attacking and defending, come a little later on, when you start competing with other players and looking to expand.

Where you skill in strategizing comes into play is when you begin to know your opponents and try to anticipate their actions. At the same time you get an insight into your own vulnerabilities and try and strengthen the weak places.

All this is linked to making advantageous alliances. You have to do this with the foresight that these will lead to your mutual benefit. Both you and they accomplish this by strengthening your economies and fighting off opponents that show signs of becoming a threat to you and your alliance partners.

At the same time you have to keep your edge on the balance of power between you and your allies so they don’t grow too strong in turn and become a danger to you.

When you start the basics of the game you quickly come to realize that land equals power. This is not as easy as it sounds. You get three types of land: mountains, forests and plains. Only certain types of buildings are permitted on certain types of land. So you have to juggle the buildings you want with the land you need, all the time aware that your opponents may be after the same goals as you!

There are currencies such as gold, wood, iron and food. The last three are used for swapping/trading. Gold is ‘expensive’ and you have to weigh up whether it is not more to your advantage to swap/trade than to invest in gold mines.

How skillful you are in structuring your population, economy and the trading market, your buildings, your army and your attack/defense tactics decides how highly you rank in the game.

After you have tried out the game, you might like to read the blogs and join the chat rooms to get further tips and ideas, and make new friends.

And last, but definitely not least, you need to know that this game is cool, great, awesome fun!